


The Intended Outcome

by Primaryexampleofadisaster



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, I Tried, I'm Bad At Tagging, Post-Episode: Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux | Sanders Sides, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:13:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26576587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Primaryexampleofadisaster/pseuds/Primaryexampleofadisaster
Summary: Everybody is reflecting
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	The Intended Outcome

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thanks for giving this oneshot a shot(sorry I couldn't help myself). I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Edited because I messed up some formatting. It should be okay now.

This was not the intended outcome. Logan hadn't meant for the conversation to turn into such a disaster.

When he had chosen not to actively participate, he had assumed it would help Thomas process his regret. He was wrong.

He didn't like being wrong, because everytime he messed up it affected how the others saw him. He had spent too long convincing them that he was perfect, a logical machine to ruin that. He liked the way they saw him.

Still, he had messed up. Badly. And he wasn't sure how to rectify it.

When Janus had taken his place, Logan had been seething. He wasn't supposed to seethe, being logic, but he was furious nonetheless. But then he had wondered if it was the right course of action.

And it could have been. Logan had almost convinced himself as such when the conversation shifted again. Then it imploded, figuratively.

He figured that it must be his fault. After all, had he shown up, he never could have been replaced.

But that was the past, and Logan had to figure out how to move forward.

* * *

This was not the intended outcome. Virgil should never have talked to Roman about Janus.

It was a few days after the fiasco at the trial. Virgil saw how easily Roman played into Janus's hands, ensnared with a tiny complement. He refused to let Roman begin to trust the snake without a warning at least.

It was moderately late, a couple hours before Thomas went to bed, and about an hour after Logan did so, the perfect time to disregard fear. Virgil had sunk into Roman's room, hoping to catch him watching a movie or something.

Nope. He was at his desk, working. Nevermind that it was 11 at night, or that he was exhausted after barely getting any sleep for the last 4 days. 

Virgil had approached cautiously, and Roman had greeted him with a characteristically chipper welcome, despite the very obvious bags under his eyes, and inquired why Virgil was there.

Virgil had proceeded to explain that the courtroom events had prompted his visit, dancing around the issue until Roman had brought it up.

"This is about Deceit, right?"

Virgil had not expected that. "Uh, yeah," he replied, "I just thought it was important that you knew that he was, uh, manipulating you...and stuff."

_Oh that had been a bad decision._ Virgil had wanted to leave as soon as he opened his mouth. He had braced himself for whatever Roman was going to say, to talk him around.

"Well, Virgil, I appreciate your input, and I shall reflect on your words. Now though, I have some rather important work to attend to, so if you don't mind…"

Virgil took the hint, and sunk put after a brief goodbye.

But today, Roman had said some things that were highly reminiscent of what Virgil was trying to communicate. After all, why else would he mention a false confidence? Or bring up so often that Janus was a liar and not to be trusted?

Not that it was untrue. Had Virgil been an ounce less exhausted from the wedding, he would have stopped any of that from happening.

Virgil knew this had to be his fault, and that settled it. He had to go talk to Roman.

* * *

This was not the intended outcome. Patton had never meant to hurt anyone like he had.

He kept seeing Roman's face after Janus had proven that Patton didn't know all the answers. That he couldn't be trusted. And he kept replaying _that_ scene in his mind, trying to think of any other time Roman had suggested he believed anything like that. Patton came up with too many for comfort.

He still hadn't been able to talk to Roman, only think through what he could possibly say, and it wasn't much.

Awful little thoughts poked at the corner of his mind, reminding him of how much he messed up. Roman, Virgil, Logan, and even Thomas all likely felt various forms of betrayal from Patton, not to mention the clearly bad state they were in.

This was his fault, and it was up to him to fix it.

* * *

This was not the intended outcome. Janus had not meant what he said, however much he meant to say it.

He had known after the trial that he would be the one who would have to deal with the fallout from the wedding, so he had planned for as much as he could.

What a spectacular job he had done. He had made almost everything worse, in almost every possible way.

First off, he had backed Roman into a corner then confronted him with one of his biggest insecurities. Secondly, he had been way more vulnerable than he had ever intended to be. Thirdly, he had failed to notice any of it coming, because he was just so great at being self-preservation.

Admittedly, he had enjoyed toying with Roman. It was interesting how easy he was to manipulate, so much so that it was easier to do so than to impersonate him. But he had not meant to go that far, to sink him so rapidly. But he had. Wonderful.

He also had no intention of ever sharing his name. He knew that he had to get Thomas to trust him somehow, but that was way further than he was ready to go. But now it was out there, in the open, and everyone knew it. He hated the feeling that created, a feeling of exposure that Janus was not comfortable with. Just another way he had horribly screwed this up.

Not to mention, his job as self-preservation was literally to stop this crap from occurring in the first place. He had failed to see a scenario where he would have to be so open, and he had failed to see how affected Roman was by his words.

So now, Janus knew he would have to be open _once again_ , because that was the only way to resolve this mess.

* * *

This was not the intended outcome. Roman never meant for any of that to occur.

It really served him right though. If he hadn't let Janus get to him, he never would have made fun of Janus's name, and everyone would have remained in the dark to how weak Roman really was.

But he had tried to give Janus a chance and it had backfired. He had known even before Virgil went to talk to him that Janus had been manipulating him. So now, when he no longer was willing to trust the snake, he was expected to. It made no sense. Patton and Thomas hadn't even bothered to care that Roman was very clearly warning them about Janus based on experiences.

Not to mention, Roman had stood by Patton unconditionally, never going directly against him, but that was wrong as well.

That didn't excuse his behavior though. He had resolved not to use those nicknames anymore, but the moment he had felt uncomfortable, he slipped right back into hiding his insecurities by attacking others.

He had deserved what that response, and what it revealed about him. That the years he had spent pretending to be above it all were a cover to disguise turbulent, painful emotions, especially how lonely he felt.

But the facade had fallen, his mask had cracked. And Roman had no idea what was going to happen next, just that he had failed to do anything he was supposed to.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Also, I may do a sequel with real interactions, but I am waiting until after I finish my other thing.
> 
> Finally, as always, let me know if I missed any tags(I am really bad at it).


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